On the trail again...but not

Day 17, Mile 293.1 - Left camp today with fresh cookies courtesy of Janice, I've been eating them and giving them away all day. Got dropped off about 2.5 miles from the trail but lucky for me a guy stopped and picked me up. He was actually hiking a section over the weekend with his brother and was driving up to leave his car for the return trip. Got on the trail about 10:10 and by 1130 i came to a sign that said temporary re-route for pct thru-hikers. I read it quickly and took off only to decide shortly i didn't remember the directions and walked a 1/4 mile back to read again. Craig and Gina the couple from the very first day caught up to me and we ate and discussed the re-route. Turns out it took the entire day, and it was all on dirt roads, one paved as well, with absolutely no water sources until we got back on trail 5hrs later. Its odd but after trail miles dirt roads and paved roads kill your feet much more. All in all it looks like we had to skip about 17 miles of trail all through a burn area. Actually turns out just fine because it puts me on schedule for Wrightwood getting into town mid-day. It was nice to hike, well "hike" in today's case, with other people. Craig has an American bulldog he rescued a while back and he is supposedly picking him up around Echo lake area, planning on going all the way to Canada with him from there. Hopefully i am still within a couple days of them because i would really like to see this 110lb dog and how he handles the trail. Camped at Holcombe Crossing Trail Camp tonight which is pretty nice but apparently in the flight path to LAX or something. Its real nice to be camped so close to water though. Also camped here are two girls i met on the way to Big Bear named Malora and the other i still don't know her name so we call her question mark; might be a trail name in the making. Found out thru the grapevine that Michigan girl is still alive and made it to big bear. Also the brothers from long island are only a half day behind me! i think, depending on how they do the re-route. The whole cast will probably be together with a few new players by Agua Dulce in about 9 days. Hard to imagine i will have been on this trip almost a month by then. It goes by fast 20 miles a day. OK i just woke up i think I've been asleep for about 10 minutes that's a sign i need to lay it down. Thought for the day; the federal government should de-criminalize marijuana, like yesterday- and just for perspective this is coming from someone who has never even tried it.

JWC on the PCT